FOR SOUTH Australian farmer Tom Robinson, his disc seeder is a critical part of his zero-till cropping enterprise.
Mr Robinson has a John Deere 1890 zero till disc seeder, which he says has worked well in their operation.
The Robinson family have modified the seeder to have six inch (15cm) spacings, narrower than is common in the area.
In spite of the narrow row spacings, which can create an issue at planting in terms of getting through stubble residue, Mr Robinson says he has not had problems getting the crop in.
“One piece of advice I have is to keep your discs sharp, they will need to be to cut big loads of residue.”
He said even though there was a large mass of residue, with straw left post harvest at 30cm high, there was no issue with hair pinning, where the straw wraps around the discs and causes sowing issues.
“Generally I find it is like a hair on your head, so long as it is anchored with a decent root system, it will not pull out and cause problems.”
Harvest management of crop residue is also critical.
“We cut the crop off low and try to spread the residue evenly, which makes it easier when it comes time to plant the following year.”
Mr Robinson said the system had been tested with wet breaks over the past three seasons, but had held up well.
“The seeder has a spiked closer wheel that works well in the wet, while we’ve also narrowed the press wheel to half that of normal to get better seed placement.
“It’s all about knowing what you want the seeder to do, which is cut, place the seed, press the seed into the soil and cover the seed.”
